Suspended vibrator



Dec. 10, 1968 E. H. PETERSON SUSPENDED VIBRATOR Filed Feb. 20, 1967 FIG. I

IQVVENTOR.

E. H. PETERSON United States Patent 3,415,396 SUSPENDED VIBRATOR Edwin H. Peterson, Neponset, Ill., assignor to Vibrator Mfg. Co. Inc., Neponset, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Feb. 20, 1967, Ser. No. 617,352 4 Claims. (Cl. 21483.3)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A suspended vibrator having an elongated depending suspensor member capable of being freely attached at its upper end to a container, hopper, conveyor or the like and including at its lower end power-operated means in the form of a vertically reciprocable hammer for striking repeated downward blows to an anvil rigid with the suspensor member, and thereby creating vibratory forces in the container etc. to facilitate the movement, settling etc. of fluent material therein.

Background of the invention Facilitating the flow, transport, settling, loading and un' loading etc. of fluent materials such as grain, particulate material, concrete, etc. by the use of vibratory etfects is an old and well-known art and various vibratory devices have been developed and used, along with just as many means and methods of attachment of the vibratory devices to the objects to be vibrated. Most attachment means depend upon the use of rigid clamps, bolts and even welding so that the vibrator and its mount become in eflfect a rigid part of the object to be vibrated. Although such systems are relatively effective, they lack versatility, since it is difficult to remove and re-attach the vibrator to another container etc. or even to another location on the same object. Further, because of the rigid requirements for such systems, the mounts and vibrator devices must be relatively heavy and therefore they become quite costly to manufacture, operate and maintain.

Summary of the invention The suspended vibrator provided according to the present invention is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture and maintain and is highly versatile as respects its ability to be easily and readily attached to different parts of the same object to be vibrated as well as having the same facility as among several objects to be vibrated. A feature of the attachment of the vibrator is that the depending suspensor member has hook means at its upper end by which it may be simply hooked onto the object to be vibrated. Further, the impact forces are created in a downward direction and virtually no upward forces are created that would tend to cause unhooking of the device from its object. In one form of the invention, the suspensor member is in the form of a cage having a bottom that serves as the anvil or impact-receiving element against which a hammer or striker is vertically reciprocated by power-operated means such as an air motor. In another form, the suspensor member is in the form of a rod having the anvil rigidly attached at its lower end and a hammer is coaxially guided on the rod for reciprocation by power-operated means including a piston having the hammer as its lower or striking end. The foregoing and other features are found to be especially significant in transmitting vibratory forces to such objects as railway hopper cars and the like because the vibrator may be easily hooked onto such cars at widely separated locations thereon.

Brief description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a reduced-scale view illustrating a selected environmental aspect of the invention, showing one form 3,415,396 Patented Dec. 10, 1968 Description of the preferred embodiments FIGURE 1 may be taken as representative of a typical use of the vibrators of both forms of the invention and the hopper car is an example of a material-containing receptacle etc. in which handling of material is influenced by the use of vibration. The hopper car, designated by the numeral 10, is typically made up of appropriate structural members including horizontal frame members such as side sills 12 and top members 14. The material carried by the car will be normally discharged through bottom outlets 16. At this point it would be well to observe that vibration is utilized in the loading of such cars and their equivalents and it is therefore not to be understood that the invention is concerned primarily or solely with the unloading of material.

The structure featured in FIGURES 1-3 includes an upright rigid suspensor member, designated in its entirety by the numeral 18, constructed as a cage having upright steel side plates 20 rigidly cross-connected, as by welding, at their lower ends by a heavy steel bottom plate 22 that forms a striker plate or anvil. The upper part of the suspensor member comprises the upper hook-shaped ends 24 of the plates 20 which thus adapt the complete vibrator unit to be freely suspended from the hopper car, here, by way of example, from the sill 12. As will be clear, the unit may also be suspended from the upper member 14, from either end of the car and at various places along any of these locations.

The cage structure or suspensor member is completed by an upper cross piece 26 which, like the bottom plate 22 may be welded to the side plates 20. A power operated means such as an air motor or ram 28 is carried within the cage structure as by depending supports 30 having a cushioned mount for the motor 28 so that the motor is isolated from shocks during operation of the vibrator unit. This motor may be of any type, such as the Model 2000 ram manufactured and sold by the Martin Engineering Co. of Neponset, Illinois, andis supplied with compressed air, as via a hose line 32, so as to cause vertical reciprocation of an inner piston (not shown) to which is connected a depending piston rod 34 which has its lower end connected to a relatively heavy striker or hammer element 36. The hammer, when idle, rests atop the anvil 22. When the motor 28 is operated, the piston rod lifts the hammer away from the anvil and then releases it to strike the anvil a sharp blow. This operation is repeated cyclically to create a succession of downward impact forces that are transmitted through the suspensor structure 18 to the hopper car, thus influencing the flow of material in the car. The mounting of the motor 28 may include, in addition to the members 30, a transverse cushioning element at 38 which serves to isolate the motor from the side plates 20 and thus from the shocks transmitted through these plates from the hammer-anvil to the car. It should also be understood that the motor 28 acts to lift and release the hammer so that there are no significant upward forces. Hence, the vibrator unit cannot become unhooked from the car.

The apparatus is simple and inexpensive and comprises relatively few parts and above all requires no complicated hook-up. The motor 28 is disposed within the side plates 22 and is thus protected from inadvertent damage. The hammer is also confined between the plates and the COlIlnection to the piston rod may be simplified.

In the form of the invention shown in FIGURE 4, the suspensor member takes the form of an elongated upright steel rod 40 having its upper end bent to form a hook 42 which may be hooked over any suitable part of the car, as over the upper frame member 14. This device, like that described above, has the facility of being able to be suspended at any one of several locations about the car, whether top or bottom or either end. The lower end of the rod 40 has rigidly secured thereto, as by welding, 21 plate or anvil 44, here of circular section and loosely fitted within the llower annularly recessed end of a cylinder or casing 46. The recessing of the casing affords an annular radial shoulder 48 which abuts the anvil from above and an annular rim 50 which has a slip fit about the periphery of the anvil.

The upper end of the casing 46 is closed by a top cap 52 held to the casing by cap screws 54 and having a central aperture 56 through which the rod 40 slidably extends. A coiled compression spring 58 acts between the top of the cap 52 and a washer 60 pinned to the rod 40 yet to permit the casing to yield upwardly so that impact forces on the anvil are not transmitted to the casing. These impacts result from a hammer element 62 formed integrally with the lower end of a piston 64 vertically reciprocable in the casing 46 and centrally bored at 66 to be slidable on the rod 40. The piston is reciprocated in the casing by compressed air led in to the casing by an inlet 68 and exhausted by a discharge line 70.

The casing has an intermediate wall or partition 72 through which the piston 64 extends and the upper end of the piston is enlarged at 74 to provide a lift area at 76 to which air under pressure is supplied via the inlet 68. The casing chamber 84 above the piston head or enlarged portion 74 is, with the piston in the position shown in the drawing, exhausted to the lower chamber 78 and thus to the exhaust line 70 by means of the piston bore 66 which leads via a radial bore 80 in the piston to a chordal flat 82 formed in part of the outer surface of the piston and having an axial dimension substantially equal to the axial thickness of the casing wall 72. When the air pressure, acting on the face or area 76, lifts the piston, the upper edge of the fiat 82 moves slightly above the top edge of the wall 72 and the pressure between the top of the wall and the lift area 76 now is transmitted via the flat 82, radial bore 80 and axial bore 66 to the upper chamber 84 and acts to drive the piston sharply downwardly so that the hammer 62 strikes the anvil 44. When the piston reaches its lower position, the flat 82 is cluded by the partition wall 72 above that wall but not below the wall, whereby the chamber 84 is again led to the exhaust chamber 78 as before. This operation is repeated cyclically to create a succession of downward vibratory forces transmitted through the rod 40 to the car. Since the casing may yield upwardly relative to the rod 40 and anvil 44 because of the spring means 58 and the slip fit at 4450, no significant lifting forces are transmitted to the rod that would tend to unhook it from the car or other object from which it may be suspended.

The air motor comprising the piston 64 and cyilinder or casing 46, like the air motor 28 described above in 4 connection with FIGURES 13, does not per se limit the scope of the invention but itself forms the subject matter of the copending application of Carl G. Matson, Ser. No. 605,031, filed Dec. 27, 1966 now Patent No. 3,376,790.

The device of FIGURE 4 has all the advantageous attributes of that of FIGURES 1-3 in that it is simple, inexpensive, compact, comparatively rugged and easy to handle, having also the facility of being able to be simply hoo'ked onto an object at a variety of locations.

Features and advantages other than those enumerated will become apparent to those versed in the art, as will many modifications of the preferred embodiments disclosed, all without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. For use with a container or the like to be vibrated, a suspended vibrator comprising an upright rigid suspensor member in the form of an elongated rod having upper and lower ends, means on said upper end for freely suspending the member from the container, anvil means on the lower end of said member, a hammer element for striking the anvil from above, said element being centrally apertured and guided thereby on said member for relative vertical reciprocation, and power operated means for cyclically reciprocating said element to strike repeated blows on the anvil.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, in which the poweroperated means includes a casing coaxially carried on the rod and a reciprocating piston coaxially carried within the casing and including a lower end portion comprising the hammer element.

3. The invention defined in claim 1, in which the casing includes a top wall centrally apertured and coaxially loosely carried by the rod above the piston and abutting the casing from above, the casing and anvil are relatively vertically movable, andspring means acts between the rod and said top wall for biasing said wall downwardly and permitting said wall to yield upwardly relative to the rod.

4. The invention defined in claim 3, in which said spring means is a coiled compression spring coaxially carried by the rod.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,774,496 9/ 1930 Miller.

2,381,802 8/1945 Booth et al.

2,621,813 12/1952 Bauerle et a1 21464.2 X 2,787,123 4/1952 Delvaux 173127 X 3,177,953 4/1965 Peterson 173127 X OTHER REFERENCES Publication, Cleveland Pneumatic Vibrators, Catalog 109, Aug. 1, 1954, p. 13, fifteen pages.

ALBERT J. MAKAY, Primary Examiner.

US Cl. X.R. 

